Rivals On Paper
by moviefan-92
Summary: Jr. Troopa is back, and he's set on getting his revenge on Mario once and for all. Learning that he's gone treasure hunting in Rogueport, the young Koopa heads out. He can't seem to find Mario anywhere though, and his search eventually leads him to Glitzville, where he has an encounter with the new champion of the Glitz Pit, who just happens to be a certain Yoshi kid. COMPLETE


**(A/N: Alrighty then. This little one-shot was written as a tribute to one of my favorite characters from the _Paper Mario_ series. I'm talking about the very underrated Jr. Troopa. I know a lot of people found him annoying, but I really liked him, and always hoped he would appear in a future installment, at least as an optional mini-boss. Sadly, all we got was a shot of him flying around in the background while Mario is on the train in _Thousand Year Door_. So I decided to write this little baby as a way to reveal what happened to him. I was actually inspired by some fan-art that I saw. So read on and enjoy._)_**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**"RIVALS ON PAPER"**

One thing could be said about Jr. Troopa was that as annoying as he could be, he was certainly adamant. With a stubborn streak that could rival anyone in the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond, he was determined to get his revenge.

Six times. That was the number of loses he had under his belt. He'd lost six times to the legendary hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario, and his little group of friends. But Jr. Troopa was no quitter. He was determine to get his revenge and give the plumber the beating he deserved, no matter how long it took; even if he had to lose a million times.

He'd certainly come a long way from the playground bully he used to be. His strength, speed, stamina, combat skills, and durability had all increased greatly. He'd even gained the ability to transform, and even learn how to use magic. Yet it seemed that no matter how powerful he became or what abilities he picked up, he just couldn't seem to defeat Mario. But as he told him during their last fight in Bowser's castle, he would beat him next time for sure.

Fighting Mario head on hadn't worked. Using his eggshell to create a better defense hadn't worked. Gaining wings and flying hadn't worked. Flying with a spike on his head for an offensive defense hadn't worked. And using magic hadn't worked. Not even alternating between all his different abilities had been enough to defeat the plumber. But Jr. Troopa was still not giving up. For their next fight, he would use all his abilities together. He would fight Mario with his magic wand while flying in the air with his spike on his head and hiding in his eggshell. Surely he would be able to beat Mario and his friends that way.

If only he could find him.

He'd followed Mario everywhere on his mission to, once again, rescue Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom from the Koopa King. From Goomba Village to the Pleasant Path outside Toad Town, from the Forever Forest to Lavalava Island, from Shiver Snowfield to Bowser's castle in the sky. But after that, nothing. The last time he had seen the plumber was at the celebratory parade after he returned the wish granting Star Wand to the seven Star Spirits. He had planned on ambushing him during it, but instead had ended up in a magic fight with Kammy Koopa, Bowser's attendant. Unfortunately, they both got barbecued by the Koopa King after he had accidentally gotten caught in the crossfire of their attacks.

Once he had recovered, Jr. Troopa had set out to find Mario again to finish what they had started. The only problem was that he couldn't find him anywhere. He looked high and low, near and far, but there was no trace of the famous plumber. He'd found Mario's traveling companions here and there, but he didn't want or care about them; Mario himself was the man to beat.

Eventually, he learned that the plumber had gone off on a new adventure, something about a treasure map in some place called Rogueport. Jr. Troopa didn't hesitate for a second. He found out where Rogueport was located, and immediately set out for it. The only way to get there was by boat, and, at first, he had almost decided to swim there; he had swum from Toad Town to Lavalava Island and back in his pursuit for vengeance after all. However, just before he had begun the long swim, he remembered that he could grow wings, and so he took off for the island.

Mario had definitely been to Rogueport. Upon asking around, it seemed that the plumber was constantly moving around, now with a new group of friends. He never stayed in one place for very long, and it played on Jr. Troopa's last nerve. Why couldn't the guy just keep still? How was he supposed to get his revenge if he could never catch him? He thought he found him working on stage with a wind spirit called Madame Flurrie, but it turned out to be a Duplighost called Doopliss disguised as Mario in some reenactment.

Finally, after days of searching, he made some real progress. He had been by Rogueport's train station, fuming about how his search was going nowhere, when a gust of wind blew a flier his way. It blew against his face, getting stuck there, and Jr. Troopa irritably ripped it away. He had been about to tear it apart in frustration when the picture on it caught his eye.

There was no denying it; that was Mario on the flier. But for some reason, he was listed as the Great Gonzales, and he was set to fight against the reigning champion, some birdbrain called Rawk Hawk, in a place called the Glitz Pit. Jr. Troopa didn't know what any of that meant, but it was the biggest lead he'd had on the plumber for a while.

Unfortunately, the date of the fight had long since passed. It didn't matter though, it was still a lead. And so, after finding out that the Glitz Pit was actually a fighting arena in a floating city called Glitzville, he put his wings to use and made his way to the famous town in the sky.

It was an impressive sight, he could admit, but he wasn't there as a tourist. It seemed, however, that he had arrived at the perfect time. Amongst the crowd of spectators, he overheard someone mention something about how the Great Gonzales would be defending his title as champion.

A grin spread across Jr. Troopa's face. It seemed he'd come at the perfect time. The flier he had discovered had obviously been old, and Mario had beaten that Rawk Hawk person, who was now looking forward to a rematch to reclaim his championship title. Jr. Troopa could definitely relate to that. After all, he had his own reputation to regain. And kicking Mario's butt in front of all these people would be a great way to do it. By the time he was done with him, Mario would need to change his stage name from the Great Gonzales to the Great Loser.

That, however, might prove to be a little more difficult than he initially thought. Not only was there security that he needed to get through, but an entire crowd of adoring fans that he did not have the patience to navigate through, and he was most certainly not going to waste any money buying a ticket. So he did the only logical thing there was to do; he snuck in.

Sneaking through a restricted access section, he made his way down the hall, keeping out of sight of security. As he snuck along, he could hear the muffled voice of the announcer introducing the fighters. First she introduced Rawk Hawk, who would be attempting to regain his title, then she introduced the Great Gonzales Jr. He raised an eyebrow at that. The Great Gonzales _Jr._? He didn't remember the 'Jr.' part before, nor could he recall if that person he heard in the crowd say it or not. Not that he cared; Gonzales was a stupid stage name anyway.

He continued on his way, passing by a yellow-shelled Koopa, who gave him a strange look and asked who he was. Jr. Troopa just ignored him and eventually came to the arena entrance, which was blocked by two security guards. Jr. Troopa didn't bother to hide. If Mario was behind those doors, then he was going through them, and no loser security guards were going to stop him.

"Hey," said the one on the left, "who are you, kid?"

"Out of the way, losers!" Jr. Troopa snapped.

He delivered a head-butt to the gut of the one who had spoken, making the guard double over, then jumped up and kicked him in the head, effectively knocking him out.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing, you little brat!?" the second guard cried.

He lunged for Jr. Troopa, but the young Koopa jumped straight up and came down on his head. Then he grabbed the guard by the feet, spun him around, and threw him into the wall.

"I told you to stay out of my way," he said with a huff.

With no other obstacles in his path, he pushed the door open, and was greeted by a screaming audience. In the ring, two combatants were duking it out while a female Toad acted as referee. Jr. Troopa recognized Rawk Hawk from the flier, but it wasn't Mario that he was facing. Instead, he was fighting with some Yoshi kid.

Jr. Troopa didn't have the patience to wait for the fight to end. Scowling, he charged forward towards the ring. Heedless of the crowd and the two fighters, he jumped up and landed in the ring, right between Rawk Hawk and the Yoshi kid, both skidding to a halt when they saw him.

Once he got over his surprise, Rawk Hawk gave him a dirty look before glancing at the referee. "Hey, Jolene, who's this pipsqueak?"

The referee, Jolene, blinked at Jr. Troopa's presence. "Um, I'm not sure. Uh, security, please be sure to keep all guests away from the arena."

Smirking, Rawk Hawk pointed at the young Koopa. "You hear that, squirt? For your safety, you better get back to your seat before you get hurt."

Jr. Troopa glared at him. "'Pipsqueak'? 'Squirt'? You want to pick a fight with me, you overgrown goonie?"

Placing his hands on his hips, Rawk Hawk let out a hardy laugh. "Now that is adorable. Listen here, kid, you may be hot stuff on the playground, but if you mess with the Hawk, you get Rawked."

"Rawk this, Hawk!"

Jr. Troopa powered up briefly before doing his Power Hop on Rawk Hawk's head. Before he landed back on the ground though, he spun around in the air and delivered a kick that sent the former champion flying out of the ring. Rawk Hawk landed in the crowd with dizzy swirls in his eyes as the guests gathered around him.

Jolene blinked again, surprised by this turn of events. She quickly improvised though, bringing the microphone to her mouth. "Um, well, folks, it appears that we have an unexpected contender who has entered the ring. May we have your name, sir?"

She held the microphone out to him, but Jr. Troopa slapped it out of her hand, and it landed a short distance away. "The name's Jr. Troopa, lady, and I want Mario. Where's he hiding? It's time we settled things. Mario, come out and face me, you coward!"

The Yoshi kid stepped forward aggressively. "You're talking about Mario? As in the Great Gonzales?"

Jr. Troopa turned to him. "And who are you supposed to be?"

The Yoshi kid puffed out his chest. "I'm one of his friends and prodigy, and the current Glitz Pit champion. Perhaps you've heard of me. Around here, I'm known as the Great Gonzales Jr."

The crowd cheered at that, and began chanting his name. Jr. Troopa, on the other hand, just rolled his eyes as he realized the mistake he had made with the similar stage names. "Oh, please. Enough with this Gonzales and Gonzales Jr. crap. Where's Mario? I want Mario. He's got a long overdue beating coming his way."

The Yoshi kid glared at him. "If you're messing with Gonzales, you're messing with me."

Jr. Troopa thumped his chest. "Bring it on, punk. You want some of this?"

Snorting, the Yoshi kid held up his fists. "Sure, lets go. 'Cause if you can't even beat me, then you don't stand a chance against Gonzales."

"Fine then. Come get some!"

He darted at the Yoshi kid, jumping up as an egg was thrown at him; not an egg meant for reproduction, but a weaponized one meant for battle. The Yoshi kid jumped back as Jr. Troopa came down where he had been standing. A long sticky tongue suddenly shot out of the Yoshi kid's mouth as he used his Gulp attack. His tongue latched onto Jr. Troopa, pulling him into his mouth. The Yoshi kid then turned around and spat the young Koopa out so he crashed into one of the ring's posts.

Feeling dizzy, Jr. Troopa got to his feet, seeing stars. He growled at the Yoshi kid before ducking into his eggshell and darting towards his opponent. Eggs flew as the Yoshi kid began throwing them, but they broke harmlessly against Jr. Troopa's defenses, which was actually much tougher than it looked or should have been, and could almost pass for armor.

Still in his shell, Jr. Troopa slammed into him, and the Yoshi kid went flying backwards. He hit the flexible ropes of the ring, and was propelled back towards Jr. Troopa. Using his head, he slammed into the young Koopa, and Jr. Troopa went bouncing across the ring. Again, the Yoshi kid used his tongue, only he didn't swallow Jr. Troopa this time, but began spinning him around, going faster and faster.

Retracting his tongue, the Yoshi kid released him, and Jr. Troopa went flying. He bounced all around the ring like a pinball before finally coming to a stop. Jr. Troopa came out of his eggshell, relatively unharmed, but his eyes rolled around in dizziness. The Yoshi kid used the moment to his advantage by jumping into the air and hovering over the dizzy Koopa. Once he was directly above him, he did a flip in the air, and the crowd cheered at the stylish move before he came down on Jr. Troopa's head, bouncing once, twice, three times, four, five, and six, his personal record.

Jr. Troopa shook his head, coming out of his stupor, and glared at the Yoshi kid. "So you like jumping on heads, huh?" He closed his eyes and concentrated, and a spike suddenly sprouted on the top of his head. "Lets see you try that now."

The Yoshi kid didn't rise to the challenge. Instead, he threw an egg at the young Koopa. Jr. Troopa ducked to avoid it, and let out a growl before he charged forward. The Yoshi kid jumped to the side, and Jr. Troopa circled back, still trying to head-butt him with his new spike. The Yoshi kid realized that he wouldn't be able to attack him head on with that spike in his way; he couldn't even use his tongue unless he wanted to end up with a hole in it.

"Ok then," he said, timing the young Koopa's movements. "Lets go."

Jr. Troopa came at him like a charging bull. At the last second, the Yoshi kid jumped straight up, and then did a Ground Pound, coming down on Jr. Troopa's back while he was still bent over. A pained yelp escaped the young Koopa as he went down, limbs flailing as the Yoshi kid stood on his back.

"Get off me!" he snarled, and rolled over, the Yoshi kid jumping off in the process. Getting to his feet, he fixed his opponent with a glare. "Not bad, punk. But I've got a few tricks up my sleeves. Magic tricks to be exact."

He concentrated, summoning up his inner power, and a magic wand appeared in his hand. He waved it around before pointing it at the Yoshi kid threateningly. This did nothing to deter his opponent as the Yoshi kid snorted. "So you can do magic, huh? Big deal. My friends and I faced the power of a 1,000 year old demon."

"Yeah? Was it anything like this?"

He swung his wand, using his Magic Blast attack. A cluster of magic in the form of circles, squares, and triangles flew out of his wand. Rather than fleeing, however, the Yoshi kid charged forward. He jumped to the side to avoid the attack, but kept coming. Jr. Troopa sent out more magic, but the Yoshi kid kept leaping to the left and right to avoid them.

When he was almost right in front of Jr. Troopa, he did a flip over a Magic Blast and landed on his tail, kicking outward with his legs like a kangaroo. Jr. Troopa flew backwards, hit the ring floor, and began doing backwards summersaults. He finally came to a stop, resting on his back, and the wand that had flown out of his hand dropped down onto his head.

A loud whistle cleared the fog from his head and he sat up. The whistle had come from the Yoshi kid, and he was pointing at him. Suddenly, from out of the crowd of spectators, over a dozen other Yoshis came stampeding towards him.

A startled yelp escaped Jr. Troopa at the Stampede attack. Scrambling to his feet, he snatched up his magic wand and turned to the stampede. The blast of magic he sent out went awry as he was run over and trampled on by the stampeding Yoshis.

The crowd was going wild as the last of the stampeding Yoshis returned to the stands. The Yoshi kid used the opportunity to appeal to the crowd, earning him some further cheering.

Jr. Troopa groaned as he got to his feet, reluctantly admitting that his opponent was pretty touch. It was time to stop holding back. "Don't think you're winning this thing just because you got on a few lucky hits. Just watch."

Pointing his wand at the Yoshi kid, he unleashed an attack, only to have it blow up in his face. Covered in soot, he stared dumbfounded at his opponent as the Yoshi kid laughed at his appearance. It only served to anger Jr. Troopa further as he dusted himself off.

"Oh, you think this is funny. Try laughing at this." He waved his wand, and a small red heart floated out of it and swirled around him before disappearing. Jr. Troopa felt his health recover, and he flashed the Yoshi kid an arrogant sneer. "Not so funny now, is it? Now then, try this."

He waved his wand, using his Lightning Blast attack. A bolt of lightning rained down from the sky. The Yoshi kid hadn't expected an attack like this and was struck. He fell to the ground, groaning in pain, and Jr. Troopa sneered at him.

This didn't keep the Yoshi kid down long though, and he gave the young Koopa a cocky smile. "So you can heal yourself. Well, I've got my own little pick me up."

He suddenly pulled out a Super Mushroom and swallowed it whole, feeling his own health power recover. Jr. Troopa growled, but was just as determine as ever to win. "Fine then. Guess I'll just take things up a notch."

Closing his eyes, he concentrated, and a pair of bat-like wings suddenly sprouted from his back, allowing him to take to the air. In the past, he hadn't had the strength and willpower to maintain his wings and head-spike and still use his magic, but now he was able to do it all.

"Now what are you going to do?" Jr. Troopa taunted, and tapped the spike on top of his head with his wand. "Just try and jump on me now, if you can even reach me."

He waved his wand, sending down another bolt of lighting. It seemed the Yoshi kid had been anticipating this though, as he successfully jumped out of the way. "You think that I can't defeat an aerial enemy? Even a spiked one? You really underestimate me."

He produced and threw an egg. Jr. Troopa dodged it and used his Swoop Attack, flying down at his opponent. The Yoshi kid jumped to the side, then whirled around and threw another egg. It struck Jr. Troopa in the back, and he went spinning out of control.

Growling, he turned back to the Yoshi kid and fired another blast of magic. As the Yoshi kid jumped up to avoid it, Jr. Troopa retreated into his eggshell and used his Spike Dive attack, dropping from the sky to land spike first on his opponent.

The Yoshi kid got lucky, and Jr. Troopa missed. The next thing he knew, he was being pulled into his opponent's mouth again by his sticky tongue, and the Yoshi kid spit him out once more. However, he had been spit into the ring's ropes, and the elastic bands sent him flying back towards the Yoshi kid. Jr. Troopa made the mistake of coming out of his eggshell while he was still flying through the air to see what was going on, just in time for the Yoshi kid's fist to slam into his large nose as he passed by.

Jr. Troopa landed on the other side of the ring, feeling dazed, his wand dropping down beside him. Dizzy swirls were present in his eyes, and Jolene went over to examine him.

"And it looks like our surprise guest has taken a hard hit," she said into the microphone. "Is this the end for him?"

Jr. Troopa blinked away the dizziness and jumped to his feet. Snatching up his wand, he took flight once more. "I ain't done yet."

He fired a blast of magic at his opponent. The Yoshi kid countered by producing and throwing an egg. The attacks hit and exploded, and the combatants began throwing eggs and magic blasts wildly about the ring, the Yoshi kid running about here and there while Jr. Troopa hovered overhead. Jolene had retreated to a corner of the ring to keep out of the way as they continued to fight.

Both ended up taking hits, but Jr. Troopa was confident. He had the advantage in the air, and his magic attacks were stronger than the Yoshi kid's egg attacks. Not only that, Yoshis could only produce weaponized eggs as long as they had enough nutrition in their systems from the different things they ate. Surely the Yoshi kid must be running low by now. Once he ran out, then he would-

_Poof!_ One of the eggs hit Jr. Troopa, and suddenly, everything around him seemed much larger. He blinked in confusion before realizing that he had shrunk. Some of the Yoshi kid's eggs had a shrinking affect? This would put him at a great disadvantage until the shrinking wore off.

Distracted by his thoughts, he didn't realize it until a shadow fell over him that the Yoshi kid had jumped up, and was now above him, coming down. It was fine though, the spike on his head would protect him from an attack from above, even in his shrunken state. The foolish Yoshi would only succeed in hurting himself.

At least that's what Jr. Troopa had thought, until the Yoshi kid raised his hand in the air, revealing that he was holding another egg that he was about to bring down on him. Jr. Troopa watched it come, feeling as if he were seeing it in slow motion, but was unable to stop it.

"Shooooooot!" he cried.

A moment later, the egg was slammed down on him, and everything went black.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

The darkness began to recede as Jr. Troopa slowly regained consciousness. He opened his eyes, blinking a few times as his blurry vision began to come into focus.

Someone was standing over him. It was a yellow-shelled Koopa, and it took him a moment to realize that it was the same one he had passed in the hall when he was sneaking around earlier. Jr. Troopa tried to scowl up at him, but the Koopa only grinned.

"Hey, welcome back, little dude," the yellow-shelled Koopa told him. "We haven't been introduced. The name's KP Pete, but around here I'm known as King K of the KP Koopas, aka the Shell Machines of Doom. I gotta admit, that was a pretty awesome fight you had."

"Get away from me," Jr. Troopa snapped as he pushed him away and sat up, his head aching. He looked around, seeing that he was in what appeared to be a locker room of some sort, one that hadn't been well maintained. There were others in the room as well, but Jr. Troopa barely spared them a second look as he glanced back at the Koopa who referred to himself as King K. "Where am I?"

"Hang on, little dude," King K told him as he walked over to a computer terminal on the wall by the door. "I'm supposed to call the boss once you wake up."

"What?"

King K pressed a button on the computer, and the image of Jolene appeared on the screen. "Ah, King K, is he awake yet?"

"Just woke up now, boss lady," he told her, and Jr. Troopa couldn't help but notice that he seemed to have a light blush on his face as he looked at the Toad. "And it seems like he's looking for another fight."

Jolene nodded. "Understood. I'll be there shortly."

"Better bring backup," King K whispered to her before the screen went black, and he turned back to Jr. Troopa. "She'll be down in a minute."

"I don't care," the younger Koopa growled, getting to his feet. "Where's that Jr. Yoshi Gonzales kid, or whatever he calls himself? I'm going to give him such a beating that his buddy Mario is going to feel it."

King K just grinned nervously. "Just hang in there, little man. The boss will explain everything."

Less than a minute later, the door opened, and Jolene entered. She was accompanied by two others, a male Toad who could pass for her brother, and the Yoshi kid from the arena. Jr. Troopa's eyes narrowed upon seeing the latter, and he charged at him with a battle cry.

The Yoshi kid held up his fists, looking ready for a rematch, but the male Toad suddenly sprang into action. He leapt at Jr. Troopa, and the next thing the young Koopa knew, he was pinned to the floor.

"What happened?" he acknowledged in bewilderment, wondering how he was suddenly being pinned.

The Yoshi kid just crossed his arms and snickered. "Don't bother resisting. That's Prince Mush. The retired champion, surpassed only by the Great Gonzales."

"His name is Mario!" Jr. Troopa snapped. "And the only thing he's 'great' at is getting on my nerves. Though you're doing a good job of that as well."

"That's quite enough," Jolene said calmly, but sternly. She adjusted her glasses before glancing down at her clipboard. "Now them, Jr. Troopa, was it?"

"What's it to ya?"

She ignored the remark. "You've certainly caused a lot of trouble in the short time you've been here. Sneaking in, attacking security, intervening on a fight, assaulting one of my contenders, attacking the current champion."

Jr. Troopa just snorted. "You're boring me, lady. Just get to the point."

She raised an eyebrow at him, but decided to let his rudeness slide. "I could place charges against you, despite the fact that you're a minor. However, I'm willing to overlook your transgressions. The fight between you and the Great Gonzales Jr. was enjoyed by our guests and viewers very much. They're already calling it the Battle of the Juniors."

Jr. Troopa rolled his eyes. "That's stupid." He glanced at the Yoshi kid. "Almost as stupid as the Great Gonzales Jr. What, you couldn't come up with your own original fighter name? You had to take Mario's?"

The Yoshi kid glared at him. "I took the name out of respect for the real champion, who, in fact, gave me my actual name after I hatched. My real name is-"

"I don't care," Jr. Troopa interrupted. He glanced up at Prince Mush. "And will someone get this fungus head off of me!"

Prince Mush looked at his sister questioningly, and she gave him a nod. He climbed off the young Koopa, who got to his feet and dusted himself off.

Crossing his arms, he looked back at Jolene. "So, if you're not going to press charges, then what do you want? Why am I still here?"

Jolene adjusted her glasses again. "Well, it seems our guests are under the impression that you're a new fighter. In fact, they're calling you and our champ the 'Junior Rivals'." She removed a piece of paper from her clipboard and held it out to him. "So, we would like to know if you would like to sign on as one of our official fighters."

Jr. Troopa raised an eyebrow. "What?" He snatched the paper out of her hand and began looking it over. "What is this crap?"

"A contract," Jolene told him. "If you would like to be one of our fighters, just sign your name and we'll get you started."

Jr. Troopa gave her a strange look. "You're offering me a job?"

"That is correct. There won't even be a need for you to pick a stage name; our guests already know you as Jr. Troopa, and it fits with the Junior Rivals theme. Who knows, you could even be the new champion one day."

The Yoshi kid snorted. "As if I'd ever let that happen."

With a huff, the young Koopa crinkled up the paper and tossed it at Jolene, where it bounced off her head. "As if I have time for that. I need to track down Mario and give him the beat down he deserves." He glared at the Yoshi kid. "Right after I get even with this loser."

The Yoshi kid growled, and looked like he was about to retort, but Jolene held up a hand to silence him. "You seem to be quite determine to defeat Mario."

Looking proud, Jr. Troopa crossed his arms and puffed out his chest. "Of course I am. I swore to defeat him, and I will, no matter what. Even if it takes years and years." Then he scowled. "If only he would stay in one spot long enough for me to find him."

Jolene beamed. "Ah, but that's the beauty of my offer. You see, as a former Glitz Pit champion, Mario occasionally comes back to visit, and usually fights a few rounds. If you stay here, then Mario will actually come to you, and you'll have the chance to defeat him in an official match. And in the meantime, you'll be able to train and keep your skills sharp. We do offer room and board to our fighters, free of charge."

Prince Mush placed a hand on his sister's shoulder. "Come on, sis, you gotta sell it in a way that will appeal to him." He gave Jr. Troopa a smile. "If you stay here, you'll be able to get stronger, show everyone what a great fighter you are, get a chance at becoming champion, have a place to stay, will get the chance to defeat Mario whenever he visits, and get paid for it."

Jr. Troopa raised an eyebrow at the way the former champion put the offer. With new interest, he picked up the crumbled up contract and smoothed it out before looking it over again. "You mean that I'll be able to defeat Mario in front of an audience whenever he comes," he glanced at the Yoshi kid, "and in the meantime, I'll get to pound down on this loser, and even get to steal his championship title."

Jolene wobbled her head. "Well, that'll be up to you to do."

"Ha!" the Yoshi kid laughed. "Like I could ever lose my title to this hatchling. And even if he did get lucky and somehow manage to beat me, I'll regain my title in the very next match."

Jr. Troopa glared at him. "You know, I'm beginning to want to beat you down almost as much as Mario."

Jolene gave him an expectant look. "So? What's you decision?"

He glanced at the Yoshi kid for a few more seconds before returning his attention to the contract once more and reading it through. Once he was finished, he lowered the contract and gave Jolene and arrogant smirk. "Where do I sign?"

**THE END**

**(A/N: Well, it looks like Jr. Troopa has a new rival to beat other than Mario, and he gets paid for it now. I think they would make good rivals****. And you know, if Jr. Troopa was still looking for Mario, it would explain his cameos in Rogueport, and he'd likely end up in Glitzville at some point, so all this came together very nicely. As I said before, this fic was inspired by a pic a friend of mine did a while ago. I posted the link below in case anyone wanted to see it. anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little one-shot. Don't forget to leave a review, and I'll see you next time.)**

**Replace the **_DOT_** in the link with actual periods.**

**www**_DOT_**deviantart**_DOT_**com/silverbuller/art/Jr-Rivals-417206288**


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